Vladimir Andreyev

Vladimir Ivanovich Andreyev (; 3 March 1942 – 24 March 2025) was an officer of the Soviet and later Russian Air Defence Forces who rose to the rank of Colonel General of the Aviation and served as commander of the component of the Soviet and later Russian Air Defence Forces between 1987 and 1998.

Biography Andreyev was born on 3 March 1942 in Vologda, in what was then the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic, in the Soviet Union. His association with flying began in 1957, when, while working as a turner at the Severny Kommunar plant, he enrolled in the gliding department of the , where he flew more than forty hours on various types of gliders and Yakovlev Yak-18s. In 1960, after turning 18, he entered the flying club's cadet pilot department. From there he studied at the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, graduating in 1965 with a gold medal. On graduating, Andreyev was assigned to the Moscow Air Defence District, where he rose through the positions of senior pilot, flight commander and then aviation squadron commander by 1972, flying the Sukhoi Su-11. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Andreyev continued to serve with the successor Russian Air Defence Forces. He went on to organize and personally perform the first flights for in-flight refueling on MiG-31 and Su-30 aircraft. In this role he laid the groundwork for the creation of the State Air Traffic Management System. He held this position until 2000, and in December 2000 became head of the group of advisers to the general director of Aeroflot.

Andreyev died on 24 March 2025, at the age of 83 and was buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 27 March.

Awards and honours Over his career Andreyev was rated to fly more than 30 types and modifications of fighter aircraft, including the MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-29, MiG-31, Su-9, Su-27, and Su-30. He performed flights as a crew commander on a Tu-134, logging more than 3,000 hours in flight time.